Video: GoPro Hero3 Black Edition

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a GoPro 3Black for one day this week, so Rose Bikes' riders Katy Curd and Adam Williams met up with me at Van Road pump tracks. I wanted to show the true quality of the new GoPro, so I haven't colour corrected or adjusted any exposure settings in Final Cut, it is all straight out of the camera. I'm sure if I had had longer with the camera I would have produced something a lot better, but I'm still impressed with the frame rates and overall quality improvements. The MicroSD card is a bit of a faff, I don't have any of those, ( I do have a whole bunch of big SDHC cards), so will have to go and buy new ones, and if you want to run a spare battery, be careful not to rip off the tape tab as it suddenly becomes a massive pain to get it out. I was disappointed that the iPhone app didn't work either, it has to be upgraded on December 14 before it will work with the GoPro3.

On the plus side, simple improvements like the addition of the power symbol and red dot for the power and record buttons don't let you forget which is which, and the built in WiFi should be great once the app is up to speed.

I'm looking forward to getting a hold of a GoPro Hero3 Black for longer so I can play with the ProTune and other new features, but until then, I look forward to seeing what everyone else is going to produce with this little powerhouse of a camera.

44 Comments

From a tech viewpoint, this is a big let down. The comparisons you did at the end show that the 120fps mode is so dark - due to the increased shutter speed and lack on any manual controls - that in many situations this will be unusable. Unfortunately, as people tend not to be so techy, this might become a real issue for them, as the masses have grown to expect (from GoPro's hype) that the slo-mo modes will be like what you see in films. Sadly, a lot of people won't realise this until after they've filmed their slo-mo moments and found them to be barely visible, especially if you're in woods/dark areas! Ok, so filming into the winter sun isn't great either, but it is very dark on those 120fps bits, and it looks like there's some serious colour shift issues going on too. However, the 2.7K mode looked acceptable...so I guess if you have a 30" monitor, that might be worth it. I'm certainly not criticising the guy who filmed this - it's good to see some 'user' footage, rather than GoPro's well-lit Hawaiian beach scenes, so thanks to Rose Bikes - but on this evidence, I feel that the Hero 3 Black is a bit disappointing. Will hopefully be testing one out ourselves very soon.

dissapointing? wtf do you expect? a full frame sensor in a camera body no bigger than a small mobile phone? the fact that it can shoot 2.7k is amazing enough, let alone shooting it at a perfectly acceptable frame rate, something that new dslr's arnt even able to do yet... and they are 10x bigger

Hey Mr. Angry, chill out! I'm fully aware of the limitations of the GoPro, given the physical size of the unit, and the optics of the system, etc. I've been using broadcast, POV and film cameras for 20+ years, so I do have a little knowledge in this area. The GoPro's ability to shoot at the arbitrary 2.7K resolution at acceptable frame rates (unlike the 4K mode) is largely due to improved compression technology and newer electronics from Ambarella. However, anything above the 1080p HD mode is - as several others have mentioned here and in numerous other blogs/forums - largely useless for the majority of users, given that most people don't use anything larger than a 1920x1020 monitor or HDTV for viewing, so the extra resolution actually serves to reduce the overall 2.7K image quality (per frame) as compared to the 1080p video mode...it's basic maths and marketing hype from GoPro. As for why DSLRs aren't doing this, it's largely due to the difference in sensor sizes and the sheer amount of data that comes off an APS-C or 35mm chip as opposed to the GoPro's tiny CMOS sensor. Besides, cameras like the Sony VG900, VG30 and NX30 are starting to bring larger sensors to smaller packages, and our FS700 will soon have full-raster 4K capabilities in a small form factor, at 60fps.

Also remember this wasn't shot using pro tune. the 2.7k looks to be a flater profile which will help a lot. After Go Pro did the .57 update everything is super saturated on the Hero2's. Till Pro Tune came out I hated color correction in post with my Go Pros. If these guys used PT on the whole thing I bet it would of looked a lot better. Default color blacks are always crushed and whites are over exposed then colors are to saturated.This was my test when PT came out.sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/48245_10151052831422014_1526997708_o.jpgBut I agree with geebeebee most people cant watch anything more the 1080P in about 5years 4K will be the new standard but not many are willing to drop 20K on a tv right now. Yes there are monitors that are 2K and the new retina displays but then again not many people will buy a $1000 27in monitor, 27in iMac or the new MBPs just to watch videos. I've shot in 4K and working on getting a 4K movie or true 1080P 3D movie released next year but not many people will be buying the 4K version or True 1080P 3D because the most they can probably watch is 1080P because they dont have a 4K screen.

I'm with geebeebee, this wasn't a fantastic 'promotional vid' for Go Pro. I film a lot using POV cams and am regularly disappointed with image quality and low-light performance; BUT, the sheer portability/usability and of course price make them so appealing, especially to the masses. You won't see pros or aspiring amateurs using these cams in low-light situations and using the footage for reputable vids - especially with high frame-rate modes. Footage in open sky during the peak of the day, however, is a different story.

2.7K is an amazing step and props to them for developing that, but you need to see through the hype around specs - dividing the same size sensor into smaller pixels doesn't improve image quality, it typically reduces it. Less surface area, less sensitivity to light.

That being said I can't wait to get my Hero3 Black Ed, and will continue using these POV cams - but hey my vids aren't 'pro'! :-0

@geebeebee so you mean that we dont need any higher resolutions than what our screen has? Nonsense if you ask me! By recording in a higher ress you will automaticly capture more details, so that when you scale it down later i will look super crisp, just like our DSLRs. As you mention the FS700 has a 4k ress sensor, but it can only withstand a much smaller bitrate. Therefore the camera itself scales down the 4k signal to a super crisp 1080 that looks waaay sharper than feks the 5dmkIIs pixcel by pixcel 1080. Almost all the movies we watch are filmed in 4-5k so that even if you use a 1080p Tv it looks so much sharper. Saying that anything than 1080p is like saying that you would not buy a Dslr with more than 2 megapixcels.

Being an avid user of GoPro cams for a while now, I too found this marginally disappointing. It's been interesting reading the technical stuff above- but my disappointment is born from the fact the GPHD2 is so much better than the GPHD1. It's much much quicker to adjust to varying light levels and also a lot better in low light. I was expecting a similar jump in performance for the GoPro3 but I must admit I can't really see it. Don't get me wrong- I want one - but the main benefits are far as I'm concerned is that it's smaller and lighter with imbuilt wifi- the actual quality of the footage isn't massively better imo.

Hey guys, I wish I had been able to have longer than one day with the camera, I never had the chance to get into options on the pro tune, or any other options to be honest. I simply tried to shoot as much as I could on every quality option and frame rate setting.

Another thing to consider, is how often you'll actually use the gopro to film everything? Most people will stick it on 720p at 120fps and go for a ride. In which case, the gopro 3 will be just as good as they always have been!

Thanks for the post mate, it's been good to see the results, despite the winter sun! My worry is that the 120fps mode - with it's inherent fast shutter speed to prevent the image smearing all over the place - makes the footage very dark, and that won't be unique to the material you shot. If you're outdoors in bright sun, that's great, but I'd suggest most people use the 120fps mode sparingly, and check the footage back once they've shot it to avoid disappointment...maybe via the handy phone app!

yeah i think it would have been a lot more productive if i had been able to see the footage on a screen, either through the iphone app or a backpack screen. oh well. seems to have created quite a bit of interest!

Sure has! I've heard though from some testers, that the latency/lag on the WiFi app has been really bad (up to 2 seconds), so I think GoPro's delay with releasing/updating it is due to them working to improve this. LCD backpack for now then

Im really confused and stuck i thought oh the gopro3 black looks mint but after reading this debate im thinking not so much. My question is does the silver edition have all these issues like the black edition? if not is the silver exactly the same camera specs apart from shape, design and wifi etc?? Please help!!!

Almost every camera on the planet would shoot very poor video under the conditions that they were in. Cloudy skies produces "flat light," and no camera can produce vivid colours when that happens. Also the fact that the whole video was not colour corrected or had any exposure compensation of any sort makes a huge difference. If you watched any of the GoPro video from Rampage, all of that has been through extensive colour and exposure correction. I'm sorry but this is a very poor example of the power that the new Hero3 has. When they compared the 2.5K video to the 720p video scaled down, that makes no difference on any computer screen that anybody has watched this on. No laptop can come close to being able to see that resolution except for a very select few Professional Monitors. The gopro is very strong as a helmet cam, and being able to throw a cam onto just about anything you want, but for people to compare it to say a "RED," is absolutely absurd. This camera was never meant to be your do all camera, it has a very select purpose.

Used by professionals, no doubt it'll always be good. I personally just think this shows its not quite as 'strap on, hit record and go' as they're selling it as to just every day users who want to show their mates what they've been up to, and I think thats what people are meaning when they're disappointed in it!

if you really look at who the "Black" version is aimed towards, it is the professional user. It shoots in resolutions that no typical consumer would ever need. 120fps is really something that no consumer needs. The "silver" edition is essentially a slimmer Hero2 with Wifi added in. I understand the fact that everybody wants the Black edition, just because it is the newest and greatest thing, but lets face it, 99% of the people who buy that from their local retailer, will never use 99% of the features on it.

Just having a joke mate....The GoPro is basically rubbish for hand held stuff. It needs to be stabilized somehow to be watchable. The little steadicams for them (smoothee, modosteady, Hague Mini stabiliser etc etc) are pretty good- even a standard tripod would have made this 10x better.

I agree the wifi backpack is garbage- mind you so is the LCD bacpac- I'm on my second one now and that too decided to stop working last weekend. The wifi system works fine but in reality is a con- the delay between the camera and my iphone is simply a joke. It's longer than 3 seconds, so you can't use your phone to work out when to stop or start recording because you'll miss it. I wish there was a remote control to stop and start recording when the camera is out of reach and an LCD backpack (that actually worked) which you could use for composing or playing back shots.